Back when I took a job working for Forman Brothers Import company I decided to go out to California and visit my father in San Leandro. It was the summer and I had a chance to go visit some of the California wineries represented by Forman Brothers. I could visit and catch-up with my father and really get excited about some of these excellent California wineries. It was just my dad and I and we had a blast. I set things up in advance and we visited a winery in the morning and then again later one in the afternoon. We got for the most part V.I.P. treatment and it was a great time that we had.
A couple of years later in June 1996 I returned with a small group of my Forman Brothers co-workers and I enjoyed again another exceptional visit at Stags Leap Wine Cellars. It's a beautiful property and I enjoyed the gardens, especially the borders of the path leading from the tasting room to the winery with rampant, glorious green-leafed/veined rosemary happily spreading it's domain. It was also nice to visit the underground / or in the hillside cellars that had been blasted out.
John Foust gave a passionate, educated and relaxed tour with much interesting commentary I wrote as much of it down as I could. Here is what he said : " Tannins and proteins = egg whites ... want to extract loose tannins, want tannins to cluster and hold together. Whole- berry crush. Vines closer together. Less de-stemming going on. Longer hang-time here at Stags Leap. Slower ripening ( of the grapes ). Lower phenol extraction. Want to have deeper soil so that the vines-roots dig deeper and get more vigorous. Don't want the leaf canopies to go crazy and produce more vegetal tasting grapes. Want vines closer together so they compete and are more stressed. Get fewer grapes that way but they are tastier, too. " It was just a lot all at once and it ran together but it's all good information. I think John said his family comes from Sicily? Thanks John, I understand you have since left STAGS LEAP CELLARS and has a new project. I tasted some of the fruits of you labor recently John and will see about getting some here to our store Cleveland Park Wines and Spirits,Washington D.C. sometime soon. More about that in a later blog.
With the movie just released BOTTLE SHOCK ( www.bottleshock.com ) all this has come back to me as STAGS LEAP was a big part of the famous Steven Spurrier 1976 blind CA.- FRENCH wine -tasting. For more info, technical, etc about STAGS LEAP call : 707-944-2020, or fax 707-257-7501. I have taken a picture and will include it of the one page/two-sided flier from my tasting back in JUne 29th, 1996. It's really quite interesting. For example the price of the 1992 S.L.V. was $35, the 1992 FAY Vineyard Cabernet was $35, the 1993 Napa Valley Cabernet was $22 and the 1993 Hawk Crest Cabernet Sauvignon was $9.50. These are all bottle costs of course. Also listed are prices for the Merlot 1993 $24, the Petite Sirah 1992 $18, the Chardonnay ( 3 types ) , the two Sauvignon Blancs, the white Riesling 1995( $10.00 ), too. Buy one case and get a 10% discount, buy three or more cases and get a 15% discount. I hope this all comes through in the photos.
When I visited the first time with my father Harry Quinn they were nice enough to give us two tasting INAO glasses with the stag embossed on the glass. I still have these and just recently used them. They have survived more than fifteen years now and remind me of this time I spent with my father. It's even more poignant and meaningful to me now as my father has passed away and I still miss him and our wine adventures together in California and Paris, France. I toast you dad and thank Stags Leap for these good memories. The weather was grand each time I visited, lots of bright, warming, soul-filling sunshine.
I see that in my haste to photograph these pamphlets and get this done that I need to take it out of the plastic and take them again. This will have to do for the moment, sorry.Cheers, TONY
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